Hospital District Rips Hollywood Plan

Agency: Taxes-for-beach Move Will Cut Care For The Poor

February 3, 1998|By DAVID CAZARES Staff Writer

HOLLYWOOD — The city's effort to pump life into the beachfront area has stirred a war of words.

At issue is a plan to attract investment in beachfront properties by spending all of the tax money generated by increases in property value to improvement projects and business-assistance programs. The city's Community Redevelopment Agency, which has directed redevelopment efforts downtown, would also guide efforts on the beach.

City administrators and commissioners say the plan could help make the city's beach an attraction and dramatically increase property values there.

Officials with the South Broward Hospital District, however, oppose the plan because they say it will leave them with less money to provide health care to the poor.

Frank Sacco, chief executive officer of Memorial Healthcare System, projects $400,000 a year would be unavailable under the city plan.

The feud, simmering for months, boiled over on Monday when a public relations firm paid by the hospital district released a poll that claimed city voters ``overwhelmingly oppose'' the plan.

The survey of 353 registered voters, taken Jan. 26-27 by a Tallahassee polling firm, showed that more than half of the respondents opposed extending the Community Redevelopment Agency district to the beach. The poll also showed voters would not re-elect a public official who would pay for beach development by ``taking funds away from health care.''

``Our numbers show that a majority of the people don't support this plan because it would take money away from the poor and indigent,'' said Ron Sachs, a public relations consultant for the hospital district.

City officials, however, claimed the poll by Cherry Communications was designed to produce unfavorable results. They also say it ignores the fact that the hospital district does not pay local property taxes and is exempt from an emergency-services fee.

``What a stupid survey,'' said Commissioner Richard Blattner. ``This is just outrageous. The hospital district is playing politics with an issue that could be resolved.''

Blattner, who is running for re-election, was particularly aggravated that the poll comes in the middle of the campaign for the March 10 elections.

``It's a cheap shot,'' Blattner said.

City Manager Sam Finz could not be reached for comment, but in a letter to Sacco on Monday, he said the poll asked questions in a ``misleading and slanted manner.''

Finz also wrote that the hospital district will continue to receive its current stream of tax revenue from the beach. Only those tax dollars obtained from increasing property values would be lost, he said.

Finz estimated those amounts to be $28,000 in fiscal year 1999; $56,000 in fiscal year 2000; and $86,000 in fiscal year 2001.

``It is unfortunate that you have chosen to allocate scarce resources to public relations and polling firms rather than merely requesting an exemption [from the beach-redevelopment district) from the City Commission,'' Finz wrote.

Sacco conceded the hospital district paid Sachs about $30,000 a year to help fight the issue. However, Sacco said the district did not commission the poll.

He said the district depends on rising property values. Given the new hotels and other projects envisioned for the beach, the potential for sharp increases in revenue is too great to ignore, he said.

``This action would take significant revenue away from us,'' Sacco said. ``The city of Hollywood could be receiving between half a million and $800,000 from this system in 10 years. That's a lot of money.''